1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of digital rights management schemes used by creators of electronic products to protect commercial intellectual property copyrights privy to illegal copying using computerized devices. More specifically, the present invention teaches a more personal system of digital rights management which employs electronic ID, as part of a web service membership, to manage access rights across a plurality of devices.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Digital rights management (DRM) is a generic term for access control technologies used by hardware manufacturers, publishers, copyright holders and individuals to impose limitations on the usage of digital content across devices. DRM refers to any technology that inhibits undesirable or illegal uses of the digital content. The term generally doesn't refer to forms of copy protection that can be circumvented without modifying the file or device, such as serial numbers or key files. It can also refer to restrictions associated with specific instances of digital works or devices.
Traditional DRM schemes are defined as authentication components added to digital files that have been encrypted from public access. Encryption schemes are not DRM methods but DRM systems are implemented to use an additional layer of authentication in which permission is granted for access to the cipher key required to decrypt files for access. A computer server is established to host decryption keys and to accept authentication keys from Internet connected client computers running client software in which handles the encrypted files. The server can administer different authorization keys back to the client computer that can grant different sets of rules and a time frame granted before the client is required to connect with the server to reauthorize access permissions. In some cases content can terminate access after a set amount of time, or the process can break if the provider of the DRM server ever ceases to offer services.
In the present scenario, consumer entertainment industries are in the transition of delivering products on physical media such as CD and DVD to Internet delivered systems. The Compact Disc, introduced to the public in 1982, was initially designed as a proprietary system offering strict media to player compatibility. As the popularity of home computers and CD-ROM drives rose, so did the availability of CD ripping applications to make local copies of music to be enjoyed without the use of the disc. After a while, users found ways to share digital versions of music in the form of MP3 files that could be easily shared with family and friends over the Internet. The DVD format introduced in 1997 included a new apparatus for optical discs technology with embedded copy protection schemes also recognized as an early form of DRM. With internet delivered music and video files, DRM schemes has been developed to lock acquired media to specific machines and most times limiting playback rights to a single machine or among a limited number of multiple machines regardless of the model number. This was achieved by writing the machine device ID to the metadata of the media file, then cross referencing with a trusted clearinghouse according to pre-set rules. DRM systems employed by DVD and CD technologies consisted of scrambling (also known as encryption) disc sectors in a pattern to which hardware developed to unscramble (also known as decryption) the disc sectors are required for playback. DRM systems built into operating systems such as Microsoft Windows Vista block viewing of media when an unsigned software application is running to prevent unauthorized copying of a media asset during playback. DRM used in computer games such as SecuROM and Steam are used to limit the amount of times a user can install a game on a machine. DRM schemes for e-books include embedding credit card information and other personal information inside the metadata area of a delivered file format and restricting the compatibility of the file with a limited number of reader devices and computer applications.
In a typical DRM system, a product is encrypted using Symmetric block ciphers such as DES and AES to provide high levels of security. Ciphers known as asymmetric or public key/private key systems are used to manage access to encrypted products. In asymmetric systems the key used to encrypt a product is not the same as that used to decrypt it. If a product has been encrypted using one key of a pair it cannot be decrypted even by someone else who has that key. Only the matching key of the pair can be used for decryption. After receiving an authorization token from a first-use action are usually triggers to decrypt block ciphers in most DRM systems. User rights and restrictions are established during this first-use action with the corresponding hosting device of a DRM protected product.
Examples of such prior DRM art include Hurtado (U.S. Pat. No. 6,611,812) who described a digital rights management system, where upon request to access digital content, encryption and decryption keys are exchanged and managed via an authenticity clearing house. Other examples include Alve (U.S. Pat. No. 7,568,111) who teaches a DRM and Tuoriniemi (U.S. Pat. No. 20090164776) who described a management scheme to control access to electronic content by recording use across a plurality of trustworthy devices that has been granted permission to work within the scheme.
Recently, DRM schemes have proven unpopular with consumers and rights organizations that oppose the complications with compatibility across machines manufactured by different companies. Reasons given to DRM opposition range from limited device playback restrictions to the loss of fair-use which defines the freedom to share media products will family members.
Prior art DRM methods rely on content providers to maintain computer servers to receive and send session authorization keys to client computers with an Internet connection. Usually rights are given from the server for an amount of time or amount of access actions before a requirement to reconnect with the server is required for reauthorization. At times, content providers will discontinue servers or even go out of business some years after DRM encrypted content was sold to consumers causing the ability to access files to terminate.
In the light of the foregoing discussion, the current states of DRM measures are not satisfactory because unavoidable issues can arise such as hardware failure or property theft that could lead to a paying customer loosing the right to recover purchased products. The current metadata writable DRM measures do not offer a way to provide unlimited interoperability between different machines. Therefore, a solution is needed to give consumers the unlimited interoperability between devices and “fair use” sharing partners for an infinite time frame while protecting commercial digital media from unlicensed distribution to sustain long-term return of investments.